Trophic cascades are often a potent force in ecological communities, but abiotic and biotic heterogeneity can diffuse their influence. For example, inducible defenses in many species create variation in prey edibility, and size-structured interactions, such as cannibalism, can shift predator diets away from heterospecific prey. Although both factors diffuse cascade strength by adding heterogene...

Habitat manipulation in agroecosystems can influence predator–prey interactions. In this study, we collected foliar predators from field potato plots with different mulch treatments and assayed them for DNA of the target prey, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), using species-specific primers. Concurrently, L. decemlineata larval abundance and plant damage were recorded from the same plots. Predat...

Generalist predator guilds play a prominent role in structuring insect communities and can contribute to limiting population sizes of insect pest species. A consequence of dietary breadth, particularly in predatory insects, is the inclusion of low-quality, or even toxic, prey items in the predator's diet. Consumption of low-quality prey items reduces growth, development, and survival of predato...

Bazykin's predator-prey population model is considered to represent the exchange stability condition of growth. The existence hydra effect and, at same time, analyzing its influence on divides species into a stage structure, namely, prey, immature predators, and mature predators. growth three has own characteristics. This research revealed that Holling type II intraspecific predatory function r...

Insects are important as items of aesthetic values, pests and as food. Bombyx mori L. is an economically important insect. It is an edible insect that is eaten in the tropics. The larvae of silkworm, B. mori, are popular for silk production. Silk is produced when the larvae are ready to pupate. Both the larval and the pupal stages of B. mori were analyzed for their nutrient composition, protein...

Cannibalism among size classes may reduce starvation and improve survival of larval tuna in oligotrophic ocean areas, but it may also be a substantial mortality component depending on the availability of alternative prey. Here, we combine laboratory and field data on tuna larvae with a model of larval foraging and bioenergetics to explore the role of cannibalism in cohort development at differe...

Questions: Do larvae of a dragonfly with a broad habitat distribution have longer abdominal spines when they co-exist with fish, and are these differences the result of phenotypic plasticity? Hypothesis: Phenotypic plasticity will result in larvae having longer spines when they are exposed to cues from predatory fish. Organism: Larvae of Leucorrhinia intacta (Odonata: Libellulidae). Research si...